A gifted-and-talented teacher who works for Denver Public Schools on Tuesday sent out an e-mail for Chris Romer, questioning whether his opponent Michael Hancock supports vouchers.

The e-mail, however, doesn’t point out some similarities between Hancock’s and Romer’s stances on vouchers.

The issue in the e-mail is about an answer Hancock provided during a debate Monday on whether he supports vouchers – public money that can be spent for tuition at private or parochial schools.

Early on Monday at a debate Hancock said “not yet” on whether vouchers should be allowed, much like they have in Douglas County. Romer answered “no.” Later at an evening debate, Hancock explained that he did not support vouchers and wanted the Denver Plan reforms to play out before anything else is considered.

“This year Colorado has cut school funding to a system that is already experiencing layoffs, closing schools and cutting programs that benefit our students,” said Michelle Miller, a teacher who specializes in instructing gifted and talented students. “That’s why I was upset to hear Michael Hancock say we should be ‘open to’ the idea of taking money out of public schools and instead give it to private schools.”

Miller said that Hancock showed even more support for vouchers in a KHOW interview a month earlier, saying that vouchers could help ‘fill the gap’ to allow poor students to attend private schools.

In that interview, Hancock said he studied vouchers when he was head of the Urban League, flying to Milwaukee to see how the program was working. He said he realized vouchers don’t cover the entire costs and often poor families for whom the vouchers were intended are left out.

Miller, summarizing Hancock’s radio statement, says “Michael Hancock actually said his concern with vouchers is that they aren’t large enough – that he wants to make sure they take enough money from public schools to pay for private education.”

However, that was similar to a comment Romer gave to The Denver Post in an interview at the newspaper on May 10. Romer, who has gotten support from pro-voucher businessman Alex Cranberg, said he was not in favor of a voucher program in Denver.

But he says that he likes the notions of good schools competing and thought a voucher program would be chaotic for the school system.

“The chaos of vouchers is the real cost of a fully loaded student is about $12,000 to $13,000,” Romer said. “Until someone says they are going to do a $12,000 voucher I don’t thing it’s a real conversation.”

In response to the Miller’s e-mail, he Hancock campaign released the following statement.

“The 24-hour a day Romer attack machine never rests…” Amber Miller said. “But, we’ll fight back with the truth and a positive vision for Denver’s future. Michael does not support taking money from Denver’s schools for a voucher program, and rather has been the strongest, most steadfast advocate of Denver Public Schools in this race.”

They later sent a letter to campaign supporters from Colorado Board of Education member Elaine Gantz Berman that read:

The facts:

Michael does not support taking money from Denver Public Schools for a voucher program.

Michael is the strongest supporter of DPS in this race. He has won the endorsement of the visionary leaders on the DPS Board of Education, including President Nate Easley and members Bruce Hoyt, Theresa Pena and Mary Seawell. He is also supported by State Sen. Michael Johnston, one of this country’s leading voices in education.

Michael has been a strong and vocal champion of efforts to reform Denver’s schools, including turnaround plans for Manual High School and Far Northeast Denver. He also supported the Educator Effectiveness Act of 2010 and the Innovative Schools Act of 2008.

Michael has spent his career bringing people together to create educational opportunities. He has been a courageous and effective leader, and he is ready to lead Denver forward on Day One with his plans to create a Denver Education Compact and a Children’s Cabinet.

It’s time to stop these divisive attacks, so that we can bring our community together to build a brighter future for all our children.

Join me in fighting back. Turn in your ballot. Contribute to Michael’s campaign and send a clear message: we don’t do it this way in Denver.

I guess we can add ‘hypocrite’ to Romer’s extensive list of qualifications.

Anonymous

Vouchers are an academic issue to Chris Romer. Vouchers are for ‘those other people’, As for elite Chris Romer, he sends his child to an exclusive private school to shelter her from ‘those other people’.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.